As the internet is commonly used and has drawn enormous attention from people recently, it is popular as a method of advertisement. As a result, the internet advertisement market is growing rapidly. The reason behind this trend is that it overcomes the limit of existing advertisement and opens new opportunities for advertisement. In other words, internet advertisement not only solves the problem of limited time and space in advertisements of, for example, TV or newspapers, but also allows detailed information about product, usage method, and precautions, etc., to be presented in unlimited fashion.
The most popular method of internet advertisement at present is banner advertisement. The type of advertisement provides small sized advertisement supplied by a relevant site while surfing the internet and accounts for more than 90% of the internet advertisement. However, there are negative views on banner advertisement on the internet in terms of the effect of banner advertisement on each site. That is to say, there is hardly any opportunity for users, who have been exposed to the same banner advertisement more than twice, to click the banner advertisement again. Therefore, banner advertisement is becoming regarded as an obstacle which inconveniences netizens and raises the question of the advertisement effect.
Hence a more proactive way of advertising than the banner method is a prerequisite. New advertisement methods developed with this feature are discussed below.
Replacement methods analyze HTML code of the relevant page accessed by internet and banner advertisement is manifested according to the options set by an internet user. CF advertisement method manifests multi-media for 15 seconds every 30 minutes or one hour. Unconscious web advertisement methods, and advertisement methods by use of cyber money are other examples of known methods.
These advertisement methods, however, can be regarded as simply a transformed type of banner advertisement and the effect of advertisement is dramatically reduced as time goes by.
In conclusion, the main issue of current internet advertisement is not merely describing the strength of products to be advertised, but also supplying diverse services relevant to the product so that the scope of internet and advertisement can be extended.
In order to solve the problem of passive banner advertisements, an advertisement method by use of a game has been recently suggested. One of the instances is the advertisement method of U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,664 to Ebisawa. Ebisawa shows the advertisement during the game though the advertisement exists in the game and processes irrespective of game procedure. Therefore, this method also can be regarded as another transformed type of banner advertisement which manifests advertisement to the user unilaterally.
The other example is advertisement method by use of a slot machine which pays a bonus when three identical advertisement screens are lined up at the same time.
Under the above advertisement methods however, a plurality of clients are not sharing data with one another during the game, but rather on a one for one basis between server and client. Consequently, attention to the game or competition is not high in comparison with a game in which data is shared with other clients at the same time.
The present invention is supplied in order to solve the problem of existing advertisements. Because it allows advertisement inserted in a game program on the internet so that advertisement exists as part of the game and enables a character of the game program or gamer to get a profit. Because the gamer and the character of the game program are allowed to take products advertised more actively in comparison with the conventional banner advertisement, it eventually maximizes the effect of advertisement.